Is bigger better? Finding smaller markets to sell more books



Photocredit: Microsoft



In a recent CreateSpace Community blog post titled Find Smaller Markets to Sell More Books, it was mentioned that many writers make the mistake of thinking that bigger is better when it comes to defining a book's target audience.

While this approach makes sense considering that an author’s goal is to sell as many books as they can and tapping into the largest pool of readers available would make this more likely, Richard Ridley’s post reasons that choosing this "big pond" approach could possibly result in missed the opportunity to stand out in a smaller pond.  He suggests that authors should do instead is look for ways to make their target audiences smaller. Mr. Ridley suggests that an author should find an element of their book that will resonate with a specific group of people and reach out to them.

According to the post what the author should focus on is a niche market, defined by Dictionary.com as a "specialized and profitable part of a commercial market; a narrowly targeted market", with the key word in that definition being "profitable."  An author should seek out blogs, magazines, websites, clubs, etc. that reach out to their niche market to let them know about their books, offer review copies, and let them know that the author is available for interviews, personal appearances, and whatever else they need.

Targeting this unique group makes perfect sense when getting your work noticed.  Stop by CreateSpace Community Space for more great information like this!